THE LOaOS. 373
not move, seeing that he was born before the world was born.' In another place he says (Apol. ii. 13): ' The teachings of Plato are not alien to those of Christ, though not in all respects similar .... for all the writers (of antiquity) were able to have a dim vision of realities by means of the indwelling seed of the implanted word' (the Logos).
Syneslus, 379-431.
Even so late as the fourth century, and after the Council of Nicaea, we meet with a curious instance of this mixture of Christian faith with Greek philosophy in a bishop, whose name may be familiar to many from Kingsley's splendid novel, Hypatia. Bishop Synesius (born about 370 A. D.) had actually been an attendant on Hypatia's* lectures. Bishop though he was, he represents himself in his writings as very fond of hounds and horses, of hunting and fighting. But he was likewise an ardent student of Greek philosophy, and it is very interesting to watch the struggles between his religion and his philosophy, as he lays them bare in letters to his friends. He was evidently made a bishop, Bishop of Ptolemais, very much against his will, and he sees no reason why, even in his episcopal office, he should part with his horses and hounds. But not only that, but he declares that he cannot part with his philosophical convictions either, even where they clashed with Christianity. He confesses that he was by education a heathen, by profession a philosopher, and that if his duty as a bishop should be any hindrance to his philosophy, he would relinquish his diocese, abjure his orders, and remove into Greece. He seems, however, to have quieted his.scruples, and to